Roommates

My sister called me this morning. A friend of hers had found a blog written by a Taylor grad for his wife, who has/had cancer (she's also a Taylor grad). Traci clicked on the link and as she read, she noticed a picture at the top of the page of the wife and their little son. The caption read, "Mommy and TJ at Uncle Tad's wedding."

Traci knew Uncle Tad. Tad went to Taylor too. Tad was the brother of Tyson.

Tyson was my roommate.

Tyson and I were never good at phone calls (we were only good at talking every night until we drifted off to sleep), and over the last few years, we had lost touch. I have not known what was going on with he and Leslie, and their news hit me like a brick.

I love Tyson dearly, and I'm hurting deeply for him and Leslie. Please pray for her; pray for their family.
Even though you may not know him, you're probably reading this b/c you know me. I can't express how much Tyson means to me - so please pray for them.

Here's their blog:
http://forleslie.blogspot.com/

Political Duality

Thanks for great comments on that previous post!

Honestly, I really feel inadequate to engage in any proficient political dialogue, so attempting to respond to your comments raises more anxieties than thoughts for me... :) However, the great thing about politics is that any conversation can be valuable and stimulating - we all have more to learn! (that exclamation point felt kind of cheesy - the voice inside my head hollered, "Yea for learning!").

So, here's what's more central to my thoughts right now:
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of politics is that we only have 2 viable choices: democrat or republican.

Every issue then gets placed on one side of the fence or the other. Then, when we're forced to make a decision which side we support (in order to vote), we have no choice but to take the bad with the good.

The vast array of issues and their inherent intricacies are complex enough - now, we have to divide every one straight down an immutable line of red and blue?
In this partitioning, you'd think it would make your choice easier - you only have 2 options! Shoot, if you really don't know, flip a coin. But life is way too messy for this duality to be adequate.

So, I'm stranded in the middle of opposing tensions. Both sides, Democrat and Republican appeal to me depending on the issue.

What if I want to be for the environment, pro-life, support the firefighters (that's for Ashley-like all good southern gals raised on grits and Reaganomics, she took a job with the union. please don't miss the heavy sarcasm there), against socialized health care, anti-war, but for the right to bear arms, not really 'pro-the US being the biggest, best, and baddest nation for all eternity,' yet still be patriotic and see our freedoms maintained, oh yes, and believe that the rich should have as much money as they can get in their pockets (I still love ol' George, Sr.'s "trickle-down" economics)????

What choice do I have? ...looks like I've got a dilemma...

My opinion should could for nothing.

So, I realized that I was misspelling Barack Obama's name.

It's one r in Barack, not two like my previous post.

Geez, I try to give my opinion on a guy, and I can't even spell his name correctly...

Washington votes today!

Yesterday afternoon, I went to see Barrack Obama at Key Arena (Sonics stadium). I always enjoy being a part of "history" in the making, so I thought it'd be fun.
Besides, I love being the only conservative in a crowd of thousands of liberals. (seriously, I should have a therapist analyze that...)

Unfortunately, he packed the house way before I got there, so I stood outside of the arena with several thousand other people and listened to his speech over loudspeakers.

Now, I have to admit - I like Barrack Obama. There really is something about him that I admire. He just seems to be a guy that would really be enjoyable to sit and talk with over a cup of coffee. Truly, I would love to see the next President have a personality like him (at least my perception of his personality).
And with McCain leading the way for the Republicans, I had actually begun to consider voting for Obama (maybe this liberal town is really getting to me??!!).

I thought of voting for him, that is, until I listened to his speech. Finally, I heard a candidate say what they really thought about the issues. They spend so much time during the race (at least what the media reports) saying absolutely nothing that you never really know what or who you're voting for. I guess in a safe, friendly crowd, he felt more free to speak his mind. As the speech wore on, I became more and more convinced of my conservative values - and his liberal policies.

Now, I still like the guy (I would never turn down an invitation for a cup of coffee), and I think he wants to do good things for this country, but we just have different opinions. For example, he wants to raise the minimum wage or provide health care for everyone. Brilliant! I love his concern for people that struggle every day to get by. I just don't think his policies are the way to do it.

Barrack actually said these words yesterday, "I am a capitalist." Please, tell me why any presidential candidate of the United States has to affirm the fact that they are a capitalist? I guess only if you fear people may think your policies are bordering on socialism. Sometimes, I hate being a ruthless, greedy, money-hoarding capitalist - I would love to believe in economic equality, but I just don't think it's a better system.

So, when the polls open in one hour, as much as I like Barrack, he won't be getting my vote.

Dreams are WEIRD!!!

The following is a true story:

In my History of Therapeutic Perspectives class yesterday morning, we had a conversation about dreams. We had just read about Carl Jung, a psychotherapist who had a particular theory on dreams, so the prof had a few people share a dream they had recently experienced.
One woman stood up and said something like, "I dreamt that I was with some Native Americans and Rambo (the Sylvester Stallone character) and they were fighting over territory. I knew it was the year 1967, but I don't know why...." Then, she continued reciting other strange details that I no longer remember.

Afterward, as the class was talking about the dream, she commented that she was confused about the year 1967. "I have no idea where that came from. I wasn't even born then, and as far as I know, there's nothing significant about that year to me."

To which the teacher responded, "Yes, but I wonder if there's something significant in Native American history that happened that year. It's called 'Synchronicity' - sometimes, our unconscious minds are aware of things that we don't even know is there, and it is manifested in dreams."

The class moved on to another dream, but I was fascinated with this idea of "synchronicity." Fascinated, that is, in the way that says, "I can't believe people actually believe this stuff - that's insane!"

Yet, for some reason, my curiosity was sparked. And thanks to the technological advances of the information superhighway, I was able to due a quick bit of research - I googled "Native American History 1967."

Six links down, I found an interesting page. As I began to read, I found my heart-racing, my hands shaking, and a huge lump creeping up towards the top of my throat. I raised my hand, and when the microphone was passed to me, I said to the class, "I was a bit skeptical of this idea of synchronicity, but then I found this...

"In the 1960s and 1970s...Native Americans became more aggressive in pressing for their own rights. A new generation of leaders went to court to protect what was left of tribal lands or to recover those which had been taken.... In state after state, they challenged treaty violations, and in 1967 won the first of many victories guaranteeing long-abused land and water rights."

WHAT???!!!! Native Americans! 1967! fighting for territory! The only thing missing was Rambo!

Somehow, I'm convinced that even Sylvester Stallone, at that time an idealistic youth, was probably marching down some city street holding a picket-sign campaigning for Native American land rights.

You may think I'm crazy, but you never know...

Therapy 101

One of the most valuable experiences I've had at Mars Hill has been my involvement in a "class" called Practicum. For lack of better words, it's group therapy that's designed to teach us about ourselves, our style of relating, and the opportunity to practice basic counseling skills. Last semester, each of the nine members took a week and shared a story from our lives. We would then respond to the stories, hopefully in a manner that would challenge the student to engage their life and their story more deeply.

This semester, we added to the practicum experience what we call a "triad." It's a group of three students that begins practicing therapy with each other. So, I am the therapist for one student, who acts as a client. They become the therapist for the third student, and that third student becomes the therapist for me. It's a great, non-threatening way to begin to practice basic therapeutic interactions.

However, each week, in our normal practicum meeting of nine students plus two staff, one student counsels another student during the practicum meeting while everyone else observes. Today was the first meeting, and I drew the short straw and was the first 'therapist.'

Now, it's bad enough that we really have no idea what we're doing yet - I'm only 9 credit hours into a 66 hour program. But now I am expected to be the 'therapist' for another student while 7 other students and 2 staff scrutinize every possible thing about my interaction: how I sat, how I began the session, how I looked at the time, what questions I asked, what questions I avoided asking, the tone of my voice, my facial expressions, directions I avoided taking, my body posture, how much time I left silent before I asked a question!!! Everything is fair game. Worst of all, there's no right or wrong answer to any of these things - since there is no formula, I cannot just 'follow the book' and be fine - I must read the 'client' and read myself at all times. Where are my anxieties? What are they saying about me? What are they saying about the client? Am I uncomfortable with silence because of me? or because of something with the client? Am I bored? Why? Because the client is boring? or because the client is completely disengaged from his or her own story so I'm disengaged too? Is he or she being honest about his or her feelings? Is the client testing me? Is the client taking care of me? Do I need to be taken care of? Or is he or she avoiding something?......and the list goes on....

So, not only am I listening to the client, but I'm supposed to be listening to the questions in myself. And then, I'm supposed to respond in a helpful way - all while 9 other people are critiquing everything I do, say, don't do, or don't say.

Oh yeah, and then we spent an hour processing how I did, what I could have done differently, and what would be helpful for me to think about in the future.

Talk about NERVERACKING!!!

Now that it's all said and done, the one thing I know for certain: it's over and I don't have to do it again :)

Kite Runner

Recently, I've seen several incredible movies that have almost inspired me enough to begin blogging again, but I just couldn't seem to drag myself back to my page.

I guess this changed tonight after seeing "Kite Runner"

I knew the book was popular (it's on my never-completed list to read), but I had no idea what the story was about, other than a guy goes back to the middle-east to do something with his friend's son.

I'm glad I knew nothing before watching this movie, and for your sake, I'm not going to say much about it here.

I will say, "Go to the theater and pay whatever outrageous price theaters are charging in your town - it will be worth the price, whatever it is."

I would love to say more about my thoughts and emotions, but I'm really hesitant to spoil the free and pure experience you will have if you don't know anything about it.

I watched the movie with some classmates and a thought-provoking professor who we all deeply admire. Afterwards, we went to a coffee shop to process - I could have sat for hours and discussed the many layers of this film and its characters.
I don't know the author's name, but that guy is brilliant.

Seriously, take a night and go watch this film.